Have to Suite?

For a number of years I have used a separate antivirus (AVG), antispyware (Spysweeper), and firewall (Zonealarm) without any problems. The antivirus and antispyware both run in realtime. I was looking into switching to Avira's antivirus, but the folks there told me that I shouldn't have more than one product doing realtime scanning because if there is a detection they could conflict. That would mean I have to pick between running the antivirus, or antispyware in real time but not both. That seems to me like inadequate protection. Is it really a problem to run both an antivirus and an antispyware at the same time? I realize that the lines between these products are getting blurrier each day. But it seems like the only "approved" solution would be to run a full internet suite from just one company. I was trying to avoid that as none of the suites seem to test as well as the various standalone products.

 

The paid version of Avira has spyware scanning built in so if you are looking for an AV and AS, buying Avira should be fine.

Cheers
Jeremy

 

I used Avira for quite a while along side SuperAntiSpyware with RTS enabled and never experienced any conflicts. I would agree that it's not a good idea to have more then one AV doing RTS. In fact most AV's won't even install if they detect another AV already on the system, but AS programs don't generally have this problem. Why not get a " 30 day test license" from Avira and test drive it along with the AS of your choice?

 

Thanks for the reply, huangker, but that wasn't my question. I already have paid AV and AS protection from separate companies, and I'm aware that Avira (and many other companies) offer combined AV and AS protection. From what I understand the "combined" programs don't protect as well the best products form each individual category.

My question is: Is it really a problem to use AV from one company and AS from another, with both running in realtime mode? Are the "conflicts" that people talk about really an issue? I haven't experienced such problems myself, but I'd like to know if I've just been lucky and should be considering a change of strategy.

In short: Have things reached the point that the better protection of standalone products is outweighed by the possibilty of conflict between those products?

 

Thanks for the reply. I've been doing that for the last few days, and haven't had problems. However, since Avira told me it was a bad idea I wanted to see if anyone else had first-hand experience with it and I should expect problems later, or if it was just a generic disclaimer that I could ignore.

 

I have used Avira for three years, and I would not recommend you run another memory resident AV with it. That said, I do run two other real time non-AV programs (see my signature) that serve to enhance my protection and do not in any way interfere with Avira.

 

I believe conflicts could happen if both products detect the same threat.

I myself never experienced such an issue when I used AV+AS (first norton+spysweeper, then nod32+SAS).

My suggestion would be: if you are very concerned about such conflict possibility, go with a suite. If you are not so scared and are willing to try out if those problems really arise, just try using both in real time. Worst case scenario: probably just a BSOD.

BTW: welcome to wilders

 

IMO any programs running Real time scanners together can conflict at any given time.But its not likely that one AV along with AS will conflict.you may want to consider your choice AV/AS combo along with On demand spyware such as SuperAntiSpyware or malwarebytes even both and running scans from Time to Time.If your really worried about spyware/malware you may want to look at some alternatives.Here are some other Defenses you can check out.Sandboxie,SafeSpace,Returnil,ShadowDefender,Defensewall Hips,Geswall,Threatfire.Etc

 

I have ran Avira Personal Premium alongside SuperAntiSpyware for about six months now, several hours each day, without a single conflict. Before that I ran NOD32 alongside SAS for a year or longer without conflict.

Maybe there would be a different result with SpySweeper as opposed to SAS? You just need to run them and see for yourself. If SS has some sort of web guard and email guard you may need to see if it conflicts with those components of Avira.

 

I have run an a/v and unrelated a/s real-time and never experienced a conflict.

 

Hello Judson:


My quick anwser IMO is NO you don't have to go suite

I run a AV happens to be Nod 32 2.7 in real time
I run SAS paid with real time and no obvious clashes
And I run OA Build 151 which has a FW (in/out) and a HIPS.

What is NB in setting up a layered defense is to ensure that EACH SSW product is set up to exclude scanning/protecting each other. So I have SAS set to exclude OA and Nod 32 etc. Once done it's done.

Hope this helps you.

 

Not true. Check out
http://www.virusbtn.com/Session-dcfd4a020d0e709e43e29a4be907b2dd/news/2008/03_13a.xml
and you will see that Avira does quite well. Not bashing SAS or MBAM but if you are trying to use them because of a perceived weakness in AS detection then consider using Avira alone.

You can try but you are just adding one blacklisting program on top of another. Cant answer your questions about conflicts as the lst time I had two real time blacklist scanners was when I was in year 4 and I installed Norton and Mcafee, and that wasnt pretty .

Conflicts aside, there are also performance issues. Why bother most AVs do a great job with spyware?

 

Sometimes they can conflict each other (AV + AS running in realtime) but sometimes don't. It depends on what brand(s) you are using and/or your system configuration. In my case, i never ran them together (just to avoid possible conflicts on my system), especially if you already have an AV with antispyware capabilities. I have always thought they are an overkill (running alongside eachother).
But if you still want them together on your system, then go ahead and keep trying them.

 

To avoid conflicts, set the products exclusions on so they all exclude each other.

If the product has no exclusion feature for the user I would pass on that product.

 

I use Avira AV, SAS on demand, Threatfire set to level 5, Win Patrol free and Sandboxie.
Also have Shadow Protect if needed.
I have no problems with speed and all of the above play nice with each other.
So no, you don't need to go with a suite to get good protection.
Hugger

 

Hugger:

yes, agree 101%.

I know that SAS and TF have the exclusion functions available to users.

But I confess that I can't remember if Avira does or not? please advise.

No clue on exclusions for the other tools you mention.

 

Avira has 'exception' features for the Guard (processes and file objects can be omitted) and the Scanner (file objects). I don't know if it's what you mean?

 

Yes exactly, in Nod32 for example user can specify the whole folder to be un scanned which includes the exe's and other objects.